Kevin Cozad and Andy Newcom

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Kevin Cozad | Hallmark Photographer

Hometown and school: I grew up in what was then the small town of Liberty, Missouri, just 30 minutes north of Kansas City. While in college, I spent a summer as a photo intern at Hallmark. I then completed my degree in photo illustration at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, and pursued my love of travel and photography. I had a landscape show in Kansas City and was approached by Hallmark to continue my career photographing cards and calendars.

Inspiration: Inspiration can come in many different ways: found objects, textures, nature, art magazines and books. I keep a sketchbook of drawings, ideas and quotes. Anything is game.

Themes I’m drawn to: Composition, contrast and light.

Best advice: Photograph your life. Your life experience at this moment of time is like no other time in history.

Happy place (when I’m being creative): My assignments as a photographer for Hallmark can take me from our studio to a location. They are varied and include lifestyle and still life photography. I enjoy the varied assignments and the collaboration with my creative colleagues. I also have a studio in the back of my house with large windows facing north. I’m always exploring and researching with mixed media. I have an idea board of favorite images clipped or copied as an idea starter. It’s my creative playground. Music is always in the background.

Favorite work of art (so far): My favorite work so far is this current photography card line that Andy and I worked on together. It’s part of Hallmark’s new Studio Collection featuring Hallmark artists. To have one collection of photography by one artist is unique, and as collaboration, it’s even better. It reflects where I am now in my work.

When I’m not working: I spend most of my time outside of Hallmark with my wife and two daughters. Sitting down for dinner together is an important part of our daily ritual. Our oldest daughter is away at college during the year, and her first request when she returns home is for all of us to be together at dinner. My wife is a professional artist, and we enjoy going out to art galleries and art-themed activities. Then there is my personal work—when I can fit it in.

Andy Newcom | Hallmark Photo Stylist

Hometown and school: I have lived my entire life in many different places around Kansas City: Roeland Park, Overland Park, Mission, Fairway, De Soto, Lenexa, Baldwin City, Lawrence, Kansas City, Missouri, and Buckner, Missouri. I’ve lived in a 750-square-foot cabin in the woods that I built with my mom and dad, a loft downtown, and several tiny grandma houses that I’ve rehabbed. I started at Baker University and graduated from the University of Kansas. But I feel my parents have been my primary teachers. My dad is a graphic designer, and my mom was an editor, proofreader, copywriter and librarian.

Inspiration: Baked goods inspire me. If you want to get me to do anything, bribe me with a doughnut. It has to be a good doughnut. Nature also inspires me. Old things inspire me. I like things that are tarnished, beat up and have stories. Simple and clean contemporary objects inspire me. Books inspire me. And art and design inspire me. I tend to gravitate to work that is a natural extension of me and not overdirected or overthought. I love objects that tell a story and are simply beautiful.

Best advice: Be comfortable in your own skin. The story and emotion and history that each artist brings to his or her work are what we want to see and hear. Everyone has a unique background and style—let it out!

Happy place (when I’m being creative): I will work anywhere and do work everywhere. That is just part of the job when you are a stylist. I usually work best with quiet. As I get older, I appreciate quiet a lot more. There was a photographer I worked with several years ago who loved to play fusion jazz while on set, and I told him that one of us was going to die if he didn’t turn the music off. I was serious.

Favorite work of art (so far): The next one. I am so grateful for all of the experiences I have had. I have styled George Strait, shot Christmas cards on Mackinac Island in Michigan when it was virtually deserted, styled homespun images all over the Midwest—the list goes on and on. It’s not always the end image that is most memorable. Often, it is the experience behind the image.

When I’m not working: I live by myself but love working on creative projects with my dad. Go to the Hallmark Facebook page to watch the video on my latest creative project with my dad.

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